Kangaroos need to be harder on themselves, say stars

Sports writer for The Age

North Melbourne's loss to the Blues has left it vulnerable. Photo: Getty Images

Key North Melbourne players are united in their belief harsh appraisals are essential to overcome habitual performance lapses that have stymied the team's push to being a genuine top-four contender.

Decorated veteran Brent Harvey's public declaration on Friday, before its shock loss to Carlton, that he wanted coach Brad Scott to be tougher on the players received a mixed response from some of his teammates. Leadership group members Todd Goldstein and Nick Dal Santo said the players had to be tougher on one another.

"I think there's a bit of a perception at the moment that we only pat ourselves on the back, which definitely isn't the case," Dal Santo told TAC Cup Future Stars. "Our reviews are firm and then direct, and they don't vary from week to week depending on if we've won or lost.

"I can't understand where Brent is coming from, but I [more so] think as a group we need to all lift our game, not one or two people."

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The sentiment expressed by Harvey about his coach's handling of the players was partly endorsed by Todd Goldstein. The ruckman said he believed Scott "at times" was not tough enough with the players, but said that had been less evident this season.

"I think the coach has become a lot harder this year, especially the back end of this year so far," Goldstein told The Sunday Footy Show. "I don't think he should've gone harder, but maybe made a few more examples of certain efforts and players at times that haven't been acceptable."

"Part of me wants to say what a cop-out from the North Melbourne players, that they are putting it back on the coach for [not] being harder," Lloyd said on The Sunday Footy Show.

"Brad Scott would be sitting back ... thinking 'Are the players walking over me? Are they having lapses because I'm not strong enough with them?' It's hard to know how he'll read that."

Lloyd said a classic problem for coaches seeking to inspire their team was the possibility that "if you berate your players too much you can lose them, but there's that balance ... [ideal] as a coach".

Former Hawthorn great Shane Crawford said the while Scott's coaching stint, now in its fifth year, had primarily focused on teaching and nurturing young players, he suggested the Harvey-led feedback could be consequential.

"If the older players are saying 'We need to be whacked between the eyes' maybe he'll start whacking," Crawford said.

North had the chance to entrench itself in at least a top-six position by defeating the Blues on Friday night, but its failure to do so has left it vulnerable to challenges from Essendon and Collingwood at the bottom of the eight.

The club has only thrice had winning streaks this year, to a peak of three matches. Among its rivals, Sydney's current winning streak is 12 while Fremantle and Port Adelaide won eight in a row earlier in the year. Hawthorn, Geelong and ninth-placed Gold Coast won five while the Magpies won four.

Questioned about North's problems with stringing wins together, Dal Santo said even he struggled to know where to rank the Kangaroos with regards to finals-bound teams, "because we can be so good at times and then so disappointing, every second week at the moment".

"You're not sure why you're angry or who at, but you just know that you are," he said.

Goldstein disputed the notion the Kangaroos, who have this season lost four of their 10 matches against teams outside the top eight, took lower-ranked teams lightly.

"You feel like mentally you're just as switched-on against the good sides as you are against the lower-ranked sides. For whatever reasons, subconsciously or whatever, it just doesn't happen for us," he said. "We'll use this bye to work that out and, hopefully, come back strong after that."

Goldstein reckoned he and his teammates, more so than coach Scott, bore responsibility to deliver the consistency long-expected by supporters and pundits.

"As a group we've got to be harder on ourselves. It's not up to the coach. We're now an old-enough group that we have to keep each other accountable; that's where it probably starts from," he said. "It is up to the leadership group and the players to work out why we're doing it."

The Kangaroos have their bye next weekend before facing Geelong, before finishing the home-and-away season with four opponents all out of finals contention.